Which CPU temp is correct?

[seeingeyegod]

Hi, I've recently put together a system with a Phenom 9550 quad and I'm trying to figure out if its running a little too hot. I skimped a little on case cooling. The PC Probe software that came with the motherboard says the CPU temp is around 47-51c depening on what I'm doing, but another program I got, core temp, is showing consistently about 4 degrees lower than PC Probe. Should I average these two temps to get the actual temp, or is one right and one wrong? I have a feeling this temp range is a little too hot though. Should I get a better CPU cooler (using retail), or work on greater case airflow? Thanks for any tips. Chassis temp hovers around 40c at the most btw.

 

[Mondoman]

A 40C chassis temp seems a bit hot. Having your two programs report temps within 4C of each other counts as equal - these are not super-exact measurements. The important thing is what is the temp at idle, and what is the temp when running a stress-testing program.

 

[evongugg]

Welcome to the forums!

Reapply thermal paste. Regulate the CPU fan with the bios options.
Turn off Cool 'n Quiet. CoreTemp is a better program than PC Probe.

 

[seeingeyegod]

Thanks for the input. Yeah, cool 'n quiet is off. I'm not going to reapply the thermal paste, it was a predetermined "pad" of thermal material on the retail heatsink, no application required. I may try using a different OEM heatsink though. Idle temp for CPU is like 43-45. Load is 49-51. Chassis is usually lower than 40c... but right now at idle it is 40c.. don't know why. Probably cause the A/C isn't on right now . I'm sort of wondering if the slightly higher than average heat is causing fallout3 and Oblivion to occasionally lock up. No other games lock though.

Here is another question. Is a 550 watt powersupply not enough for this system? I've got 2 sata hard drives, but only one 9800GT video card and DVD drive. Would a 550 be enough for SLI?

 

[Mondoman]

Watts don't matter; what matters is the total +12V amps. The sticker on the side of your PS should list the max amps on each (voltage) rail. Note that if you've got multiple +12V rails, often the total amps available on all at the same time is LESS than the total of each of the individual rails.

Your temp readings are nowhere near close to high enough to cause any software problems. Video drivers often have bugs; you should also use memtest86+ and something like Orthos to test your memory.

 

[seeingeyegod]

i called Bethesda support yesterday about fallout3 lockups, tried every suggestion he had, no change in behavior . Thanks for the input. I'll checkout memtest and orthos. I've got the newest official nvidia drivers. I think I had less problems with the last version. I friggin hate driver issues!

 

[Mondoman]

Also, all games have bugs and so your freezes may be due to bugs in the game.